Before Harry: The Marauders
by The-Riddler95
Summary: Sirius and Peter have their minds on helping their friend Moony. James has his mind set on his goal of creating a Marauder's Map, and the two friends Lily and Severus are simply trying to make it through the year as friends, but when an event brings all of their stories together, all of their lives change. A retelling of the Marauder's story.
1. Chapter 1

**Hi, so this is kind of a weird story for me. I wrote this a few years ago and never even thought about publishing it online, but when I rediscovered it after Alan Rickman's passing, I figured I should. I would also like to warn you that I don't have Pottermore and didn't do any research for this outside of the books and movies, so forgive me if you're a hardcore Potterhead and I butchered your favorite part of the origin. This is my own retelling of the origin of Snape, Lily, and the Maurauders. This is also my only Harry Potter fanfiction, so feel free to leave constructive criticism!**

Petunia Dursley was appalled at herself for helping her sister Lily carry her bags to King's Cross station. The rage had started fuming inside the wretched girl as soon as she found herself outside her door, after hours of her parent's chastisement. All the more anger at herself when she found herself doing this menial task seemingly out of goodwill! After all, who knew what Lily's kind carried around in their burlap, hand-me-down suitcases. The only bit of joy Petunia got from this was Lily leaving for the rest of the year.

Lily grinned ear to ear when they arrived at their destination, gesturing for her sister to leave her bags at the stop of the train station platform, between eight and nine. Petunia dropped the bags so prudently, you would have thought it was a bag of rattlesnakes. Lily picked the bags up and wheeled them to the wall behind platform nine.

"Here I go." Lily sighed.

"Here you go!" said Petunia, in mock joy.

Lily took a few deep breaths, a few gasps of both delight, and of anxiety. With one awkward leap, she stepped into the wall, the bricks magically diverging behind her. To Petunia, her sister was being symbolically swallowed up, out of her hair for a year. For Lily though, this was a new year of joy, her favorite place to be. When she had stepped through to the other side of the wall, and her basic vision had returned, she was in a daze. She would stand in awe at the moving trains and the bustling students, all carrying their own carts full of supplies; owl's communing about the roof of the train station. But for the time being, Lily would stare breathtakingly at the sign that marked a new beginning for all the witches and wizards that roamed the halls of the Hogwarts express. It was the sign that said 9 ¾.

-(o)-

Lily was known for her beauty by many of the students, though no one would say it when asked. Her brown-red hair was straight, behind her back. She never really cared much for aesthetics, though her general appearance would state otherwise. She stood out from a crowd. She stood out for her robes, decorated with souvenirs from her past experiences, for her luminous green eyes, but most of all for her personality. Lily was unusually kind, yet she was hopelessly introverted. The only friend she had that she felt comfortable around was a boy named Severus Snape.

In many ways, Severus was the opposite of Lily. His hair was long, greasy, and black like dirty coal, and his skin was ghastly pale. He was the most generic person you could possibly imagine, and he had no spectacular talents or aspects to himself to stand out in a crowd. He was shy, quiet, but in every way, he cared more for Lily than anyone else. The two were together constantly, and knew everything about each other.

Severus found Lily the minute she walked into the station. The two hugged each other. The two months away from each other had Severus absent-minded for the summer.

"Sev! My god, you have no idea how much I've missed you." Lily grinned.

"Well we get another year together don't we?" Severus said.

The two exchanged smiles, and were about to hold hands, if James hadn't tackled Severus out of the way.

James Potter was adored by the school. He had the admiration of his many peers, and was the bane of many of the Professor's existences. It seemed he had no enemies, if Severus didn't attend Hogwarts.

Severus hated James like nothing else on this earth. He hated his hair, his glasses, his face, and perhaps most of all, his relationship with Lily. Severus hated the fact they were meant for each other. Their hair was identical in color, their interests were completely compatible. On the other side of the spectrum, James was a spoilsport. He was cocky, arrogant, and it seemed like every one of James' pranks gone awry had befallen him. Severus didn't know why James hated him so much, but he couldn't stand the fact that someone like Lily could be attracted to someone like that.

"Looks like old Snivelly is back!" James chuckled. "Ready for another year with me?"

Severus ignored James. He wouldn't give him the satisfaction.

"Aw, come on Snivelly! Don't be so frosty." James said. "You don't want to embarrass yourself in front of the lady."

"James, you're making me blush." Lilly said. James picked up her hand, grinned, and kissed it. Severus would have punched him in the face if Remus didn't drag James away.

Remus was the flip side of James. Where James was reckless, undisciplined, and shallow, Remus was calm, collected, and complicated. He had curly brown hair to contrast to James' straight locks. His robes were always folded and orderly. He was the perfect person to keep James collected. Remus apologized to Severus and dragged James back to the train.

"Why do you always pick on Sev?" Remus complained, dragging James by the lapel of his robe.

"Come on Remus. It's just a bit of fun." James said. Remus threw James onto the train in a compartment next to Peter and Sirius.

James, Remus, Peter, and Sirius were a famous band of pranksters in Hogwarts. They were four best friends and the entire school knew them. Sirius Black, a curly-haired, black-eyed boy, was the nice one in the group. He always knew when to stop if a prank got too out of hand, although James wouldn't always agree with him. Peter Pettigrew, the fat, long-haired one, was the group's ballast. One could call him James' sidekick. He always followed around James, Sirius and Remus. He would do whatever James told him, and James made him the butt of many of his jokes. The only reason he was part of the group was that Sirius was too nice to watch James torment him.

"These Professors are getting old and soft." James smirked. "Someone has to keep them on their toes."

"C-couldn't agree m-more." Peter stuttered. He always stuttered like that when he talked to someone.

"I say the day we get back, we all head over to Zonko's joke shop for some puking pastils. I'll buy. Old Mr. Filch is missing us." James put a sly face on, grabbing a chocolate bar out of his robe pockets and stuffing it in his face. Mr. Filch, the grouchy school caretaker, was James' favorite target.

"Hey, what did you say to old Snivelly back there?" Remus said, looking out the train window at Severus and Lily.

"Why do you always assume that whenever I talk to Snivelly and Lily, it's always to say something mean?" James grinned, feigning sympathy.

"Because you like Lily." Sirius suggested. Remus burst out laughing.

"I have never… physically… said that." James said, pretending to blush. It wasn't a well-kept secret, but it was one he pretended to care about keeping.

Outside, after a few exchanges, Lily grabbed Severus' arm and dragged him into the train. It would take off in a few moments. The lights were dimming in the station.

"Let's grab a seat next to the front." Severus said, meekly.

"No Sev. There's a seat in the back where the concession lady always walks by. We could grab some snacks." Lily smiled. Severus tried not to cave, but Lily was so persistent. It was Severus' own misfortune that Lily's seat caused them to walk past James'compartment.

They tried not to talk, but James called them over.

"Well, hey there Lily. Snivs." James said.

"Hello James." Lily said, to Snape's dismay. "Who are your friends?"

"My name's Sirius. Sirius Black." Sirius smiled. "These guys are Remus and Peter."

"And on behalf of James, I'd like to apologize for anything he did to you, Sev." Remus said.

Severus' curiosity was peaked. As far as he was concerned, they were all arrogant show-offs. He just wanted to remark at something to one of James' crew.

"Thank you Remus. They have another name for you, don't you know? In Slytherin. Moony, isn't it?"

To Severus' pleasure, Remus' eyes went down. That was true though. Due to Remus' habit of mysteriously disappearing some nights, he had earned the nickname Moony by many of the students. James, Peter, and Sirius knew better than to mention it to him. At one point, they thought that Remus was into midnight gambling, because every time he came back from one of these nights, he bore mysterious scars. No one could piece it together.

"Sev, the train's about to take off. Let's go to our seats." Lily said, dragging Severus to the back. Severus couldn't stop enjoying himself from Remus' sadness.

With a loud whistle, and the violent vibration of the train body, the train slowly got off its starting point, and chugged straight ahead along the ancient train tracks. Some of the students were cheering, and James' unmistakable hollers permeated the air.

"Why did you say that to Remus?" Lily asked, to a satisfied Severus.

"He deserved it." Severus said, confused at Lily's response. "It's justice."

"Don't be mean, Sev. They were just joking."

Severus remained silent. He didn't want to argue with his only friend. The vibrating train whirred past the plains they were riding through, and the endless trees and foliage were a blur.

James was consoling his friend Remus in a compartment next to Severus and Lily's.

"Don't worry too much about what Snivellus said." James whispered. "Why do you sneak out at night?"

"Have you ever called me Moony?" Remus asked.

James shook his head. "Never."

"Neither have I." Sirius and Remus said. Peter also shook his head.

"You couldn't begin to imagine how messed up I am." Remus smirked.

James smiled with him. "That's my bro."

The train bustled and whistled for hours, and James thought it best to raid the concessions cart and steal the train's supply of Bertie Bott's every flavor beans. Eventually, the terrain got less suburban, as the trees and buildings started to thin out, and replaced with rocks and concrete huts. The train stopped at a train station that was especially near Hogwarts, this one full of witches and wizards desperately navigating through the endless halls. Magic exploded like fireworks on the roof, and Lily stared in awe. She didn't see it very often, and Severus, clutching her hand, was seemingly just as amazed.

Two people appeared out of the chaos in the train station. The students could tell they were Hogwarts Professors since they were wearing the signature robes, like more eloquent versions of the student's. James crept up next to Lily, and had to remark, "Look. It's old Grubbly-plank."

Severus stared at James, with venom in his eyes. James smirked back at him, and went back to join Remus, Sirius, and Peter. The two Professors had gotten the student's attention, and started to speak.

"Hello students. My name is Professor McGonagall, and my colleague, Professor Grubbly-plank. We will be two of your numerous Professors this year at Hogwarts. If you will follow us, we will lead you to your boats, which will take you directly to Hogwarts. Please separate into groups of three."

Professor McGonagall had grey hair and eyes, and wore a green robe. She had the kind of stern voice that demanded the attention of a crowd. She seemed fairly friendly to Lily, though, and seemed to care. Grubbly-plank, on the other hand, wore black and gray robes, and seemed to be the quiet type. He was the kind of Professor that would let his students get away with a lot.

"We just got off a train, now we have to row a damn boat?" James asked, darting back to Lily's side.

"Do you not spend any time with Moony and Pete or them?" Severus asked, seething.

James ignored him. "So, groups of three? You, me and Snivelly?"

Lilly smiled, but didn't make eye contact with James, staring at her own feet. "His name is Severus." she murmured under her breath. James took that positively, and walked the entire way with the two. Severus was silent, as James and Lily exchanged idle comments, with James saying things he thought was clever, and Lily answering, but not able to keep up a decent conversation. James kept having to change topics.

For Severus, the boat ride was torture. Their small, wooden rowboat floated alongside Peter, Sirius, and Remus', laughing hysterically at James' constant attempts to both entertain his friends and flirt with Lily. Severus had tried to talk to Lily, but James never left a gap in his speech. After what seemed like hours to Severus, the boats finally got close enough to the small coast Hogwarts was located on for them to step out and hook the boats on shore. McGonagall and Grubbly-plank then led them inside Hogwarts to the main dining room. Hogwarts was a giant castle, seemingly made of smaller compartments. The outside looked grim in the limelight that shone over it, but the inside seemed warm and comforting. It was the kind of atmosphere you wouldn't mind living in.

Waiting at the brightly lit dining room was Professor Dumbledore, an obscenely old wizard that James always poked fun at for his scraggly beard and glasses. His bright red and orange bird Fawkes perched on his gold podium stand. Dumbledore had a warm expression on his face. He welcomed the students, letting them settle into their seats and eat a bit of the meal that was set out for them.

"Welcome, fifth-years, to another wonderful year at Hogwarts!" he said. "I hope you will learn much here, and forge new friendships with your peers. You will get stronger in every way, under the tutelage of our esteemed faculty."

The staff of Hogwarts, standing next to Dumbledore on the gold podium, stood. A few stood out in general, McGonagall with her green witch hat, a giant man in a brown trench coat, the scraggly Mr. Filch, caressing his tiny, orange kitten Mrs. Norris, all standing next to Dumbledore. There were other Professors, whom the students had marked out as gullible, and dull, among which was the introverted Professor Grubbly-plank.

After the students had eaten a gourmet dinner, Dumbledore allowed them to head for their usual houses. Hogwarts had divided its students into four houses, each taking refuge in a different part of the castle. The most notable was Gryffindor, for the brave, and loyal. Among the Gryffindors were James, Remus, and Sirius. The infamous Slytherins were all cunning, and determined. It was a curse to be put in Slytherin to the students, since every wizard who had ever turned to crime has somehow been related to Slytherin house, like the equally infamous Gellert Grindelwald, a dark and currently imprisoned wizard. Severus and Peter were both Slytherins.

Not that it was a confirmed stereotype, but Slytherins tended to be a trifle racist. Slytherins were typically purebloods, all wizards born to parents who were both wizards. Any other wizards, born to one or two non-magic parents were deemed as less to them.

Lily had found herself in Hufflepuff, for the kind and caring. She liked it there, where there was next to no dispute among its residents. Finally, was Ravenclaw, for clever and witty folk.

All of their bags had already been carried up to their rooms. When they got up to Gryffindor common room, James immediately tore apart his suitcase, checking that someone hadn't confiscated his goods. Remus bent down to pick up the clothes that James had thrown halfway across the room. Gryffindor common room was large, with many compartments. All the walls were riddled with the Gryffindor crest, a red lion.

James took his wand out of his suitcase, a thin maple wand with engravings on it, and chuckled silently to himself, looking at the other contents of his suitcase. Waiting until everyone else left, he called Remus and Sirius over, "You guys have got to see this."

Remus collapsed on the couch next to the fireplace.

"If it's a stink bomb, Sirius can have it." He smirked. James kept calling him over, and he finally caved.

"So you wanted to show us, what? The crappy parchment you cover your neighbor's car in?" Sirius asked, confused. James mock laughed back.

"This, this is the best thing I have ever bought. I-"

"If you're going to say, 'I bought it off another creepy old lady in a black cloak with a wand for a hand' then I swear-" Sirius started.

"First of all, she had a broomstick for a hand." James said, holding up the half broken broomstick his parents made him carry. "And second, she called it the Marauder's Map."

"It's blank. You got scammed bro. Is that what you spent the nine sickles I gave you on?" Remus asked.

"No, she said that if we say a special charm, and swear to use it only to play pranks and set off fireworks, it can show us a full map of Hogwarts and where everyone is, anytime we want."

"Okay then." Sirius said, half-convinced. "Then where's Lily?"

"Oh, we have to set it up a bit. All we have to do is cast a simple charm on every room in the castle."

Remus' jaw had already dropped, and Sirius had burst out laughing.

"Yeah, sure. Because Dumbledore won't mind us sneaking into all the restricted areas of the castle and casting your prank map spell at all." Sirius sneered.

Remus had pulled out his best Dumbledore impression, "James, you're a total scamp and nothing you've ever done has not ended in total disaster. Here, have my magic keys."

"Fine. Guffaw all you want, but I'm sure Peter would love my plan." James growled, puffing up his chest.

The next day, after a firm 'no' from Peter, James decided to enlist Lily's help during transfiguration, at which time both their common rooms had class together. She agreed over Professor McGonagall's droning voice, provided James never put her name on the map, and that he never told Severus what they were doing. Whenever they had the time, the two went into any room they could and cast the charm. The room, and the footsteps of anyone in it, would instantly appear on the map, at which point a rare, faint smile appeared on Lily's face, and James hugged her. On the map, Hogwarts now was an incomplete rhombus.

In the Slytherin common room, Peter and Severus pretty much left each other alone. Severus was alone again, without Lily to talk to. A couple of his peers mocked his shyness, and tried making him talk, feigning sympathy to get a laugh out of their friends. Some, though, legitimately seemed to want to be his friend. In Professor Grubbly-plank's potions class, two siblings, named Amicus and Alecto Carrow, asked Severus to partner up, and it turned out that the two had a lot in common with him. They were both outcasts. Amicus, the boy, had coal-black hair that lay straight down his forehead, covering half his eyes. Alecto, the girl, was Amicus' twin, and looked identical to him, except for the fact that her hair was slightly curled, and has in a disheveled ponytail.

"So you find an excuse to get all cutesy with Lily?" Sirius asked one day, in the Gryffindor common room.

"She agreed to help me, which is more than you did." James grinned. Sirius rolled his eyes.

"I have to go."Remus said, immediately after. He had taken a short glimpse at the window. It was nighttime, and the moon was the only light source shining.

"Is it going to be one of those nights?" James asked. Remus had already rushed out of the common room before James could say anything.

"Well, I'm going to go scout some rooms with Lily." said James, after Remus left.

"Oh, no you're not." Sirius said playfully. "I'm not letting you walk about with Lilly alone bathed in the light of the frickin' full moon. I'm going with you this once. Leave the girl."

James and Sirius slept for a couple hours, and James woke up Sirius at rest of Gryffindor was asleep, and James propped the door open with his broken broom. Remus still wasn't back, so they decided to go scout out the classrooms near Slytherin. They had snuck outside the common room, and were walking in the halls, illuminating it with their wands. James clutched the half-complete map in his hand, on the lookout for Professors.

"So, we just go around looking for rooms?" Sirius asked.

"Pretty much."

"This is what you and Lily do every night?" Sirius was seriously reconsidering his romantic images of James and Lily together doing this. James looked around and found the door to Slytherin common room. It was a door disguised as a portrait of a queen in green robes. The girl's bathroom next to it wasn't locked, so they decided to go to that first.


	2. Chapter 2

"Oooh! James Potter. Very naughty you are, coming here at night." Myrtle squealed. They had just entered the girl's bathroom when the ghost spotted them, instantly floating over to greet them.

Moaning Myrtle, the ghost of a second year girl who had died in the bathroom, wore her long black hair in two pigtails, scrunched up out of her face. She wore comically huge black glasses.

"Myrtle. I don't think you've met Sirius." James said. Myrtle glided down to the floor, and stared at Sirius, studying every inch of his person.

Sirius whispered to James, "So you've been here before?"

"Oh, yes. Jamesy always comes here." Myrtle said. Her voice was girly, but strange, as if someone was desperately trying to be happy, while pressing red-hot tongs to their back. "James keeps me company. He plays with me whenever I get lonely."

"It's not what it sounds like." James said, his eyes widening. "Don't tell Lily."

A soft growl alerted James and Sirius. Their heads darted to the door, seeing the silhouette of something. It wasn't human, it was far too disproportionate. Its arms were long, and ended with points. They were probably claws.

"It's the thing." Myrtle whispered.

"What thing?" James asked.

" _The_ thing. It always comes here, thinking it can eat me. It would have by now too, if I wasn't already dead." Myrtle then floated away, sobbing madly at her death.

"Hide." Sirius said.

Sirius and James hid in a bathroom stall, standing on the toilet seat. The thing had walked in. They felt its presence. It walked into the bathroom, its feet clacking on the tile floor. Through the crack in the door, James could see its grey fur. It had yellow eyes that illuminated the dark.

"Wait." James mouthed to Sirius, who nodded back.

The two spent a half hour in the stall, watching the beast pace back and forth, its claws clacking on the ground, until the sun glared through the window. The beast walked towards the window, seemingly bathing in the sunlight. James slowly opened the door as he saw his chance to escape while the beast was staring at the sun.

The beast seemed to transform. Its snout shortened, and its eyes turned dark brown. The hair turned curly, and then shrank. Its arms grew shorter, and turned into human arms. As James and Sirius stared at the beast's transformation, they saw the beast turn into a person, a fifth year student.

"Remus?"

-(o)-

Another joint lesson, with the Gryffindors and Slytherins in the same room, was Professor Trelawney's divination class. The school had just recently approved the art of fortune telling as a subject worth teaching, so the students may later find profession in it. Truthfully, divination was very hard to do, and was often incorrect or just vaguely appropriate. The professor in charge of that department, Professor Trelawney, was just recently hired. She had a way about her that was odd. She bore huge metal glasses that made her look ages older, and often wore clothes that had the look of rags.

"The crystal ball," she said, "a sacred form of divination, very difficult to master."

Trelawney picked up the crystal balls and handed one to each group of two. James, Peter, Remus, and Sirius were sitting together and Severus and the Carrows were sitting together, but the odd number of tables ended up with James and Severus at the same table.

"Gaze into the ball's hazy enigma, grasp the future of your partner and pull it out! Then bury it deep, deep within your soul."

James tried hard to see Severus' future, but it turned out the teacher was a bigger distraction than most of the students, gazing into various students' crystal balls and saying either, "Good job!" or, "Oh, my dear child. I am most sorry for your future loss." James looked into it.

The ball wasn't like a television where the images appeared in it, but rather, staring into the smoke would make you hallucinated flashes of pictures and words in the back of your head.

"I see… pain in Severus' future, followed by loss. Loss of a loved one. Yeah."

Severus thought James was lying, his cold hands grasping the leg of the table. "In James' future, I see pain, very, very quickly." James stared into Severus' stone cold eyes and laughed.

For their last class, the Gryffindors had their 'Care for Magical Beasts' class with Professor Grubbly-plank. Remus kept his head down the entire time, not talking to the others, obviously ashamed from the night before.

"Werewolves are quite different from animagi." Professor Grubbly-plank said, in response to James' question in class. James had surprised the rest of the class with the seemingly unrelated question, and the fact that James was engaged in an academic topic.

"Werewolves, through some magical curse and so forth, are forced to turn into a savage wolf whenever they catch a glimpse of the full moon. They lose all human emotion then." Grubbly-plank said. "Technically, there are also Animagi, who are werewolves in their own right. An Animagus trains for years to turn into an animal, which can be a wolf."

"So a student here could be an Animagus?" James asked, baffling his Professor.

"I suppose, but it would take years and years for any adult wizard! If the thought crosses your mind, I'd advise against it. There are much more meaningful things to spend one's energy on."

As Grubbly-plank droned on about the topic, James looked across the room at Sirius, and Sirius slapped his forehead into the palm of his hand.

Severus had begun to accept the idea of being friends with the Carrow twins. They seemed friendly enough, and Severus thought it was time to introduce them to Lily. After learning hours, Severus had taken the Carrows and went to find Lily. She wasn't in the Hufflepuff common room, so they checked the library. Lily was there, sitting at a table with a rife of books.

"Lily!" Severus called, brushing his black hair out of his face.

"Sev! It's good to see you." Lily said. "Who are your friends there?"

"The name's Amicus Carrow." Amicus introduced himself. "This is Alecto."

"Oh." Lily seemed shocked. "Good to meet you both. Severus is a good friend of mine."

Severus pulled Lily out of her chair courteously, and Lily dragged him over behind a bookshelf in the crowded library.

"They're really nice you know."

"I believe you." Lily shifted uncomfortably, and looked at her feet. Severus was surprised. It was the first time she had ever done that in front of him since they first met. "But their parents have some rumors about them."

Severus was listening intently now.

"Atrios Carrow is in Azkaban prison right now. He used magic to kill wizards." Lily's eyes went dark. "He was a follower of Grindelwald."

"These are their fifth-year kids. They're not the same thing." Severus said. Some of the color flushed back into Lily's face. "You're right. I can't assume those things. I'm sorry."

The Carrows came over behind the bookshelf to see Lily and Severus. Lily put on a fake smile and greeted them.

"Lily, do you want to go over to Honeydukes, and I'll buy you some stuff?" Severus asked.

"That's nice Sev." Lily said. "Let's go."

Honeydukes was a candy shop in Hogsmeade village, next to Hogwarts, where the students went to if they had a break from schoolwork. It was a hangout for the students, but Lily and Severus liked it because not one of the people who normally said a word to them hung out there. The two of them had a place where they could talk to each other in private.

It was autumn now, and the leaves on the trees were turning orange. The streets in Hogsmeade were overlaid with fallen leaves. The various bars and pubs were filled with laughing wizards. Honeydukes was at the very end of a street of pubs.

"So, what have you been doing?" Severus asked Lily, on the ten minute walk.

"I'm good." Lily said.

Severus was surprised, furrowing one eyebrow. "I was hoping for more than that."

"Well, it's not like anything exciting happened." Lily smiled a bit, but then went quiet again, thinking about her times with James.

"You've been really quiet lately." Severus looked at Lily with concern. "Is anything wrong?"

"Nothing." Lily looked up at Severus, smiling. "I'm fine. Where is the paranoia coming from Sev?"

"You've been talking about James a lot lately." Severus took back his answer the minute he said it, mentally kicking himself.

"What do you think is going on with me and James?" Lily's eyebrow raised, surprised at Severus' sudden stomach.

Severus frowned. "I don't think anymore of James than what he's shown me."

"And what did James show you?"

"He's anserine. An arrogant hauteur."

Lily stopped walking, stopping and staring at her feet. "James Potter is the noblest person I've ever met."

"He hates me. He hates pure-bloods, and he hates Slytherins. He'll hurt you."

"He loves me."

Severus' eyes shrunk. His already pallid face was drained of any remaining color; Lilly stared straight into his eyes, the light from her glinting blue eyes reflecting off his black beady eyes.

"No he doesn't." Severus said. "He hates us. He'll-"

"Give him a chance."

"He doesn't deserve a chance."

"He's a good guy."

"He's a psychopath."

"I-"

" _Rictemsempra!"_

It all happened so fast. Severus had just barely pulled out his wand and uttered the curse, when Lily unsheathed her wand, shouted _Protego!_ and the spell bounced off her magic shield and hit a nearby statue, shattering it. Everyone in Hogsmeade that heard the explosion looked at the two.

"I'm sorry." Severus tried to sound sorry, but what came out of his throat was barely a whisper, like someone being strangled. "I'm so sorry. I was so angry. I-"

"Did the Carrows teach you that?" Lilly asked, heaving.

"I may have heard them use it."

"I'm sorry Sev. I have to go back to Hogwarts. Homework." Lily turned back, not caring to look at Severus' face.

Severus stood there devastated. His mind had went blank, as he tried to process what had happened. Lily, with her beautiful auburn hair, hanging straight down her back, her ravishing moon-blue eyes, permanently graven into his mind, and her smile; He had quite possibly just rid himself of that forever.

-(o)-

"Remus is ashamed." James whispered to Peter and Sirius, with Remus burying his head in a book five tables away. "He hasn't talked, or eaten, or slept or anything for three nights straight."

"He doesn't know we were there though, right?" Sirius whispered back, glancing at Remus. Remus bore awful scars down his arms that he unsuccessfully tried to cover with his sleeve. He had been torturing himself or something.

"It must be- It must be awfully l-lonely mustn't it?" Peter stammered. "Remember what Grubbly-plank s-said? I bet he doesn't want- want any people getting… getting close to him."

"Last night was especially rough for the poor bloke, wasn't it?" Sirius looked back at James and pretended to smile when he saw Remus looking back at them.

"So are you on board with my idea?" James asked.

"I get what you're saying. I really do. I know you really care about Remus, and we all would do anything for him, but remember what Grubbly-plank said? It takes years to become an animagus, and that's for an experienced, adult wizard." Sirius frowned, and fumbled with his fingers.

"Come on. Remus is the nicest and most timid person in this goddamn place. I can't just watch my friend cry himself to sleep at night. I know, I'll probably fail and end up with the head of a giraffe or something, but are you really telling me we're not going to try? For old Remus?"

Sirius thought about it for a minute. It was practically torture for him to watch one of his best friends be so sad and 'John Doe' his way through every full moon night.

"Why do you want to do this again?"

"Relatability. Remus isn't the only one that can turn into a beast." James grinned ear-to-ear.

"I'll try."

It was winter. The bitter snow coated the ground and rooftops of Hogwarts. Lily and not said a word to Severus since, looking straight ahead coldly whenever she passed him in the halls. Severus had grown depressed and jaded without Lily's company, and the Carrows provided little comfort. He had barely eaten anything, or slept any time, not able to think of anything else but Lily. In many ways, he had learned much about himself. That Lily was the other side of his equal sign, the thing that kept him balanced. Without her, he was unbalanced and fell off the balance entirely. That James and Lily had an interest in each other, that, though Severus was reluctant to admit it, would make them an okay couple. And finally, that he loved Lily. He loved her more than himself, than anything else in the world. He loved her so much, he had wanted to marry her since he met her, but lied to himself that he didn't. And finally, he learned that he hated himself.

At the same time in Gryffindor, the teachers were having the best time of their lives since James enrolled. There was no time for any pranks, any backtalk, or even any attitude. James always showed up to class exhausted, and always did what he was told. Half the professors couldn't believe it. James had no time to do any of it, because after schoolwork, all of James' time and energy was spent learning to be an animagus.

He had also learned some things about animagi. You couldn't know what animal you would turn into. It's based on your personality. No one had ever seen James make any progress, but he tried harder than any of the three.

"Can I have your attention, students?" Dumbledore said, at one point in the dining hall. He was standing at his gold podium again, so it was important. "The ministry of magic has asked me to give a few messages. First of all, to have a very merry Christmas this winter." The school applauded. "Secondly, that there has been an escapee from Azkaban prison." That sent the students whispering to each other. "Gellert Grindelwald, a wizard I'm sure you've all heard of, has escaped. Know that our staff is doing everything in our power to protect you, should he show his face. Please think nothing more of it."

It was the week of Christmas day when Sirius found a stag in the hallways after potions class, when he was walking with Peter. The two of them were just walking down the halls, coming back to common room after class, when they were stopped by a four foot tall stag, brown in color, with white dots and colossal antlers that looked like they could poke through the concrete walls.

Then, to the shock and amazement of Peter and Sirius, the stag turned into James Potter.

"What… the triple mother-effing hell?" Sirius yelled, not caring if anyone heard.

"I know!" James said. He turned back into the stag and shook his antlers, then turned back into human form.

"Grubbly-plank said it would take years! That's impossible!"

"I know. I just woke up one morning and turned into a stag." James made jazz hands with his fingers.

"No duh. You could kill someone with those freaking prongs." Sirius furrowed his brow and made antlers with his hands.

"They're not prongs. They're antlers." James said. "By the way, you can't tell anyone that I succeeded. They'll make me register myself. I don't want to get registered. Don't use my name on anything important. Just call me… Prongs."

-(o)-

The Slytherin common room was quiet that week. Without Lily, Severus started to hang with the Carrows more and more. The Carrows had caused Snape to mostly not talk about Lily. Amicus Carrow turned out to have some kind of prejudice to Slytherins, in that he had mentioned a rumored cold war between the pure-bloods and the others. He didn't talk about it much, so Severus didn't think much of it. Alecto Carrow was somewhat of a rebel. She didn't care much for the rules of the school, sneaking out at night, and occasionally lifting small items from Honeydukes.

Lily had now started to hang with James less restrainedly, being with him whenever they had the chance. Lily had gotten more open to James, Sirius, and Peter. James had trusted her enough to tell her about his stag form. He made Sirius and Peter try harder to be an animagus, and Sirius had actually managed the form of a big black dog for a few seconds, with a lot of effort.

"You did this for me?" Remus asked, humbled. He, James, Peter, Lily, and Sirius had snuck themselves into the Gryffindor common room during a free track. James was in his stag form, and Sirius had very briefly turned himself into a black dog.

"We know you're a werewolf, bro." Sirius said. James shook his antlers.

"I thought you did." Remus smiled. "Sorry I've been ignoring you guys these past few weeks."

"The p-past few months, actually" Peter stuttered, smiling.

"Thank you James. Thanks to all of you. I owe you." Remus grinned for the first time since that night in the girl's bathroom. "James, I'll help you finish your map thing."

James immediately turned back into human form out of shock. "The map! I totally forgot about that!"

He dug out his coat pockets and opened the half-complete map. He hadn't gotten much progress done since.

"Let's see if-" he started, looking at his map. To the astonishment of everyone in the room, two tiny ink footsteps appeared on the map, in the Hogwarts courtyard area, mimicking the actions of the actual person in the courtyard. Below the footsteps, the name of the person was written in cursive, clear as day. _Gellert Grindelwald._

 _"_ We have to tell Dumbledore." Lily said, with her eyes fixated on the map.

"No. If we tell Dumbledore, he'll know we made the map and we'll all get expelled. We just have to wait until someone else spots Grindelwald, and Dumbledore will deal with him then." James folded the map back up and stuffed it in his pocket."

It was finally Christmas day, and the dining hall was filled with students, luxuriously stuffing their faces with cake and sweets. There were no house seats that day, so Lily, James, Peter, Remus, and Sirius sat together, and Severus sat with the Carrows. James had offered to share a cocktail with Lily, and shared it as Remus and Sirius rolled their eyes and laughed.

"So are you and Snivelly friends again or what?" James asked, looking across the room to see Severus silently laughing at something Alecto Carrow had said.

"Ah. I don't know. He's… changed." Lily said, hiding a frown behind her shy smile. "I haven't really talked to him at all lately."

"Severus is a good person." Sirius said. "Personally, I think it's the Carrows. I heard they do dark magic when no one's looking."

Lily frowned, her face losing color. "He loves me you know." She looked across the room at him. "I can see it in his eyes. He wouldn't say it, and I guess he got bored of waiting for me to."

"Then he met the Carrows." Sirius stared at Lily grimly.

After that, everything happened so fast, all at once. The dining hall doors swung open, and James had just heard someone utter _Avada Kedavra._ That was an illegal curse, the killing curse, which no one had ever evaded. A Hufflepuff girl fell from her chair, permanently opening her blank, expressionless eyes. Another curse was uttered, though no one saw who did it, or who was killed this time. The entire hall was sent into bedlam. Dumbledore screamed _Protego_ louder than anyone had ever heard him. An aura covered the hall, and the cloak he was wearing flew off, revealing the scowling face of Gellert Grindelwald.

The students moved aside, providing a clear path between Dumbledore and Grindelwald. Dumbledore uttered a curse, and a flash of blinding light erupted from his wand at Grindelwald. Grindelwald deflected it back, and yelled a different curse. From the torches in the hall, a fiery bird emerged, six feet tall, barreling straight toward Dumbledore. One flash of light, and the bird just shrugged it off. Two flashes, the bird started to barrel back. Three flashes of bright red light, and the fire bird dispersed back into flames. Professor McGonagall joined the fight, blasting a bright green ribbon of energy at Grindelwald, blasting him out of the dining hall. Dumbledore came off his podium to see if Grindelwald was still conscious, but he had disappeared.

"Lock down the school!" Dumbledore yelled to scrambling Hogwarts staff. No one goes in or out under any circumstances!"

The students were all rushed back to their common rooms and locked in. Lily and Peter were both hurriedly shoved into Gryffindor in the rush.

"James, get your map out right now." Remus said. James dug into his coat pocket and pulled out the map. Grindelwald was apparently in a part of the school that James hadn't charted yet. He didn't show up.

"He was wearing an invisibility cloak." Sirius heaved. "That explains why we didn't see him before Dumbledore's spell, and that's why no one saw him in the courtyard when we saw him on the map."

"James, we have to get this map to Dumbledore. It can tell us where Grindelwald is if he's wearing the invisibility cloak." Lily said.

"I know. But Dumbledore's somewhere out there, gallivanting around with a killer in the halls. How are we going to get it to him?" James asked.

"J-j-james?" Peter tapped James' shoulder to get his attention. "I was… I was waiting until after the f-feast to tell you, but…"

In that instant, Peter Pettigrew shrunk. He grew tiny pink ears, grey-brown fur, and a tail so pink and hairless, it looked like a worm.

"You can do it too now?" Sirius asked. Cupping his hands, he picked up the rat that was his friend Peter, and stared at his face. The rat version of Peter still had his black eyes and hair, but had long claws on the ends of his tiny fingers.

"You have a little worm-tail now too!" James laughed, overjoyed. "This is how we're going to get the map to Dumbledore."

The worm-tailed rat version of Peter nodded.

-(o)-

It had taken a couple of days for Peter to be confident enough in his abilities as an animagus to be able to do the task, and a few hours right then. The halls had gone quiet, and it probably meant that Grindelwald had escaped to somewhere in the school. When he finally was, it was nighttime, and James touched his wand to a crevice near the bottom of a wall, and uttered a spell to make the hole bigger. Sirius handed Peter the map, and he held it in his mouth.

"Okay Wormtail, the entire school is depending on you. Here you go." Sirius let Peter down out of the hole, and he slid through, scurrying out of the common room into the hall.

The hours that followed were heart-wrenching. Without his map, James spent the entire time wondering if Peter was being tortured by Grindelwald, or was locked out of whatever room Dumbledore was in, or something better or worse.

"Peter's going to make it." Lily said, to comfort him.

"Peter's a fat blob. Why did I make him go out there?" James shut his eyes and cocked his head up, stressed.

"Are you trying to sympathize with Peter, or negate him?" Remus asked, jokingly. "Look. If something goes wrong, he can turn back into Wormtail and escape through a crack in the wall or something."

"You're not the least bit worried about him, are you?" James said, with his face scrunched into a stern expression.

"Oh, I am. I just have more confidence that Peter's one of the cleverest people I know. How are you going to kill a guy who can turn into a rat and escape whenever he wants?"

Peter, meanwhile, was scrambling on the inside cracks of an alabaster wall with the parchment in his mouth, desperately trying to find Dumbledore. He finally found him communing with a group of Professors, dividing them into search parties. He needed a way to reach them. Brushing his whiskers on the wall he was running on, he jumped out of the wall, and scrambled across the floor until he reached Dumbledore. Peter jumped up and down on Dumbledore's foot until he finally looked down and saw him.

"I knew James would find a way to get this to me sooner or later." He whispered to Peter, picking up the map. "Thank you, Mr. Pettigrew."

Peter stood there on Dumbledore's foot for a minute, astonished at all he knew, but quickly regained his wits and scrambled back into the wall.

"What's that?" Professor McGonagall asked.

"This, my dear," Dumbledore said, "is a map to Grindelwald."

James, Lily, Remus, and Sirius waited in the common room for ages. James was about to start crashing through the walls to look for Peter, when he immediately burst through the crack in the wall and turned into his human form.

"We've got to get out of here." he panted, pointing horrified at the door.

"Did you get the map to Dumbledore?" Lily asked.

"Yes, but that's not the p-point. Grinde-Grindelwald spotted me. He has- he has a-"

The door burst down, and there, in front of all the Gryffindors, stood a fully-grown, seven-foot mountain troll.

Mountain trolls are green and scaly, with giant, ugly faces. They were extremely powerful, this one carried a 200 pound club, but they weren't all too bright. It was easy to trick one.

The Gryffindors stood back as the troll looked around the room. No one talked, and no one moved.

"Hey, Sirius?" James whispered, as the troll walked towards them. "Remember when you said I could kill someone with my prongs?"

Sirius nodded.

"Let's test that theory out."

James jumped into the air for a split second, turning into a grand stag with huge prongs. As fast and strong as he could, he charged the troll, his antlers grazing the troll's stomach. James' antlers pierced the beast's skin, making it bleed. The troll howled with pain, then swatted James aside with his club. Lily shrieked as James was flung across the room, and the troll kept lumbering towards them. James got up, and rammed the monster a second time, this time aiming for its shoulder. It was pushed a meter across the room, now with multiple stab marks. But James was now standing in front of a window. The troll charged at him, with his club in the air. James didn't know what to do. He dove to the side, turning into his human form. The troll was too dim to see him, and ran straight out the window and fell out of the tower.

Lily hugged James as tightly as she could.

"All right, Prongs!" Remus cheered. "How you did that, I have no idea, but yay!"

Looking out the broken window, Peter saw the troll get up and look around.

"It's going to get up. It can't-"James was interrupted when Severus Snape ran into the destroyed Gryffindor common room and body-slammed James out of the window. Both James and Severus were barreling toward the ground.

Falling to the ground with all his remaining strength, James grasped Severus' arms as tight as he possibly could, yelling, "If I die today, you're dying with me!"


	3. Chapter 3

Just then, the two of their visions hazed. Severus had dematerialized the both of them into the same cloud of black smoke, ribboning around the towers of Hogwarts, and swirling into the sky. It was black magic, undoubtedly taught to him by the Carrows. It hurt James, turning into smoke, but that was because Severus was strangling James inside the cloud. James didn't know how to fight back. Severus finally lost control, and the two barreled down into the Hogwarts courtyard.

"Why the hell did you do that?" James panted, his chest heaving.

"I should have done it a long time ago." Severus growled. A flash of red light blasted from the tip of his wand and barely missed James, causing the earth beside him to implode.

"You don't deserve to live!" Another flash of magic, deflected by James' wand.

"It's not my fault Lily hates you now."

"Lily loves me!" Severus was shouting at the top of his lungs, and crying at the same time. "You're the one sneaking out at night, and trying to kill me, and you are helping Grindelwald!"

James' eyes widened. "Okay, who the hell told you I was helping Grindelwald?"

The ground below James' feet erupted at Severus' command, and James tumbled backwards. He tried to land on his feet, but he felt a sharp pain shoot up his left leg. He had somehow fractured it in the fall.

"Once I've killed you, I'll go back and tell Dumbledore. I'll be a hero." A green magic beam burst from Severus' wand, deflected by James.

"You'll go to Azkaban because you're a lunatic." James said. He uttered a charm, and threw Severus across the courtyard, into a tree.

Severus levitated a gargoyle nearby, and flung it at James. James tried deflecting it, but was brought to the ground. His skull was bleeding now, and he held his wound to stop the blood from trickling out.

Lily made her way down the stairs to the courtyard just in time to disarm Severus before he could kill James.

Severus looked at Lily. She was distraught. She ran towards James, and hugged him, and it was the most painful moment of Severus' life.

"The Carrows lied to you, Sev." Lily said. "James has never met Grindelwald, so much as helped him."

Severus walked toward Lily, holding his bleeding arm. "I didn't know. The Carrows told me."

"You were using dark magic. I don't care what it was for, but you almost killed a person."

"I love you Lily." Severus was crying harder than he ever had in his life.

"I love you too, Severus Snape. But I don't see him right now. I see a monster. And since he isn't here, I guess I'll have to settle for James." Lily took one long look at Severus. His hair was tousled. He looked exhausted, and he was damaged from the battle he just started. There was fire in his eyes. If you had seen Severus Snape at the train station, a bright eyed timid little boy, you would have never guessed he would turn into that, and neither did Lily.

As Lily helped James wrap his arm around her, and helped him limp away, Severus fell to his knees, his hands digging in the rubble he created. It was the rubble of his and Lily's relationship, which he had just blown into exile. A tear made its way down Severus' cheek, and taking one last look at Lily's straight auburn hair, and glimmering green eyes, reflecting the beautiful, somber light of the full moon, disappearing from his life forever. He turned back into a ribbon of black smoke, and then disappeared.

"Hey guys?" Sirius shouted across the courtyard to Lily and James. "Haven't you noticed there's a full moon out?"

"Oh, god! Where's Remus?" Lily asked.

"I tried to stop him, but he left. Peter's looking for him now, but I think he's still inside the castle."

-(o)-

James had his arm around Lily, and he was limping into the castle, following Sirius.

"What did Snivelly do to you?" he asked, alarmed.

"Never mind that." James said. "Where did Remus go?"

"He turned out of the hall. I don't know where he went after that."

"The girl's bathroom! He probably hides there every time this happens." James said, his eyes widening.

Sirius ran back into the Hogwarts castle, and James and Lily limped after him. The hallways were in disarray. Grindelwald had sent five or six more trolls to common rooms and classrooms. Sparks flew past as the panicking students fought the trolls back with everything they could. Some trolls were falling to the ground in pain; some students were being thrown into walls and bookshelves. James thought, if Remus got into a fight with a troll…

The halls were being blown up, and James had just gotten to the door of the girl's bathroom, when he and Lily found Dumbledore dueling Grindelwald.

It was James's first good look at Grindelwald. He was of average height, with long grey hair, and dark eyes with bags underneath them. He wore robes that looked like they had been burned, and only a bit of the original grey coloring still remained. His opponent, Dumbledore, was wearing singed blue robes, and was obviously winning the fight. He looked significantly less tired. Sparks flew from both of their wands, and there was a mess of attacking and deflecting between the two.

"How are we going to get through?" Lily asked.

"Run, children!" Dumbledore yelled. One of Grindelwald's curses had gotten through, and Dumbledore held his singed shoulder.

Out of the girl's bathroom, the door suddenly flew off its hinges, and smacked Grindelwald in the side, making him fall. Dumbledore uttered a spell, twirled his wand, and pieces of concrete from the walls peeled off and surrounded Grindelwald, creating a wall around him.

"Go!" Dumbledore urged James to go in the bathroom while Grindelwald was occupied, and he obeyed. Lily helped him in, and just behind him, Grindelwald had burst out of his concrete prison.

James had come in to see Remus, in his giant wolf-beast form, attacking a black dog that he assumed was Remus in an animagus form. Werewolf Remus was bigger than they had initially thought, with luminous yellow eyes that flashed when he blinked. Looking at the numerous scratch marks on the walls, he had obviously done some damage with his claws. Remus looked as if he had been torturing himself before Sirius showed up, and now he was trying to eat him.

Sirius' dog form was black and scraggly. It was adolescent, and had claws that had obviously been used in the fight. But Sirius was tired now, and Remus didn't look like he was breaking a sweat.

Lily pointed her wand at Remus.

"No." James said. "You can't use magic. You'll hurt him. This looks like a job for Prongs." James got down on his knees and turned into his stag form. His leg was still hurting. He was limping on it.

"James, he'll kill you!" Lily held the stag's shoulders, trying to hold it back.

James, still in stag form, flashed a facial expression that looked like a smile, and limped into the fight.

One head-butt from James sent Remus barreling into a wall, whimpering in a dog voice. That whimper soon turned into a snarl, and he lunged at James. James had just gotten out of the way, avoiding getting his head chewed off.

Peter had joined the fight out of a crack in the wall, jumping on Remus' head, and covering his eyes. Remus stumbled around and fell, breaking the wall off a stall.

Lily watched the fight in horror. Peter danced around Remus' head pulling his ears and blocking his vision. James and Sirius weaved around Remus, knocking him down.

Sirius was knocked away by Remus' claw, and reverted back to his human form. His side was bleeding, and he held his wound.

"Lily!" was all Sirius had time to say, before Dumbledore's body was thrown through the wall of the girl's bathroom and landed at Lily's feet. Grindelwald stepped in, and narrowly missed Dumbledore with a curse. Dumbledore was withered, and looked bruised. He got up, and shot a spell at Grindelwald, knocking him down.

"James!" Dumbledore yelled, tossing him a pearlescent-silver cloak, glittering with reflected light. James knew what it was the minute he put it on. It was Grindelwald's cloak of invisibility.

James reverted back to his human form, underneath the cloak. His vision was hazed, like he was drunk, but everyone else couldn't see him. He limped towards Remus, dragging is left leg behind him, as Remus threw Peter off and he landed unconscious on the floor.

"Remus!" James yelled. "Remus, I know you're in there!"

Lily tried helping Dumbledore fight, but every one of her amateur spells was easily deflected.

"Remus, this isn't you!" Remus had now caught James' scent, and slowly walked towards him.

Grindelwald uttered a curse, and Lily was blown across the room, landing unconscious.

"Remus, it's me! James!" Remus swept his claw across the floor, grazing James' stomach and tearing off the cloak.

Dumbledore aimed a curse at the ceiling, causing rubble to fall out of it, on Grindelwald, burying him in the pile of alabaster.

Remus picked up James by his arm, staring at him straight in the eye. Remus' eye was full of fear, unable to stop himself from possibly killing his best friends. James' eye though, was full of sympathy.

"Moony!" he yelled, and Remus stopped. He closed his mouth and the venom left his snarl.

"This is Moony." James said, watching tears try to leave Remus' eyes. "Don't be Moony. You're Remus. Remus is the best person I've ever met, and I want him back. I want Remus back."

Remus stared at James, and then slowly put him down.

"I want Remus back." James said, smiling.

 _Petrificus Totalus!_ Dumbledore yelled, pointing his wand at Remus. Remus was petrified now, frozen in his spot. James watched his best friend fall like a statue on the ground. Dumbledore smiled at James. "I'll get you back to your common room."

-(o)-

One week later, all the students were herded into their common rooms as the staff searched for any remaining trolls or debris. There were still windows of time where they could sneak into each other's common rooms, and that was when Dumbledore paid James, Remus, Sirius, Peter, and Lily in the infirmary.

Some of them were better than others. Peter had some bruises and was in a coma. Sirius had bandages coming up his waist. Remus had scratch marks coming up his legs and arms, which he blamed Sirius for, and Lily was sleeping for ninety percent of her time there. James was the worst off. A bandage wrapped around his head where Severus' attack had gotten him. His leg was in a cast, and his waist was mummified in bandages where Remus scratched him. He was awake though, smiling whenever he could.

"Where's Severus?" was the first thing James asked Dumbledore when he sat down in his hospital bed. "He had some injuries."

"Mr. Snape is being treated in my office. He is being treated for some counseling." Dumbledore said.

James cocked his head back in his bed. "What was Grindelwald even trying to do?"

"He was one in a long line of wizards, all trying for the same goal." Dumbledore's eyes went down. "To kill all wizards and witches with non-magic parents."

James stared at Dumbledore intently. Dumbledore took his interest positively and continued, "It has been a point for many dark wizards that only pure-bloods were worthy to study magic. A couple of times in history, a wizard has come here and tried to kill any but a pure-blood."

James closed his eyes and smiled. "Peter says you know about our adventures."

James couldn't see Dumbledore's facial expression, but he sensed warmness. "Do you know why it takes great wizards and witches ages to become an animagus, where it took you and your friends mere months?"

James shook his head.

"Those witches and wizards learned to be animagi out of pure curiosity. They had no reason to try hard outside of pure selfish desire. You, on the other hand, cared for Mr. Lupin. You loved him so much, you tried harder than you ever have before at anything." Dumbledore sniffled, and adjusted his glasses, smiling. "Love is a powerful magic, James."

"So now that you know about the map and the animagus thing, you're going to get us expelled, right?"

"James Potter, I trust you will not use your powers for dark purposes. I know you won't." Dumbledore's voice was reassuring.

"So, is Severus going to be sent to Azkaban or something?"

"Mr. Snape is troubled. He will learn from it, and I'm sure will grow up to be a very noble young man. For now though, he is being counseled. Let's leave it at that. Mr. Black has your invisibility cloak."

Dumbledore left the room, leaving James wondering about what he said. He looked over at Sirius' hospital bed and saw the pearlescent cloak on the desk near him.

"I've decided something." James said aloud, to everyone in the room. "I thought of a code for the marauder's map. How about… Remus, Wormtail, Sirius, and Prongs-"

"Wait, you and Peter get cool animal names and I don't?" Sirius joked. "I want to be called… claw…pad..foot. Yeah! Padfoot!"

"Really? That's the best you've got?" James grinned. "So Remus? Want to be Clawbreath or something?"

"Actually," he said. "Moony is beginning to grow on me."

James was happier than he'd been in a long time. "Okay then! Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs proudly present the Marauder's Map. I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

The rest of the conscious hospital patients repeated after him. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

-(o)-

Severus Snape was tied to a chair. It was necessary to stop him from bludgeoning himself. Dumbledore walked in matter-of-factly and sat down at his desk.

"It wasn't my fault." whispered Severus. Nurses walked around him, treating his wounds. "It was the Carrows."

"The Carrows have left. I'm here to talk about you." said Dumbledore.

"I'm not guilty of anything."

Dumbledore leaned over in his chair towards Severus. "Lily was very precious to you, wasn't she?"

Severus didn't say anything.

"There's nothing you can do for her anymore that can make her happy. Those days are gone."

Severus was crying now.

"But, there is something you can do for her son."

Severus stared straight up at Dumbledore, desperately dissecting his words to find the meaning behind them.

"Lily and James are going to have a son." Dumbledore was whispering. "I've seen him. He will be born, and an age of darkness will follow. But if you follow me, and do what I say, you can do one last favor for Lily that she will never be able to repay."

Severus stared at Dumbledore darkly for a minute, then spoke. "What do you want?"

"You will grow older. When the time comes, you will be a professor here. Lily's son will attend here. He will be in danger here. You must protect him any way you can."

"How long have you known?"

"I've just been waiting for a time to tell you."

Severus looked down for a while and closed his eyes. A tear trickled out of his eye onto the floor. "The Carrows told me James was making a magic map. That it would help Grindelwald find half-bloods."

"In that, they were right…" Dumbledore said. "James was making a map. I could tell in his eyes though, he had completely different intentions for it."

"I hurt him. I hurt Lily."

-(o)-

"So, Lily?" James said. It was summer now. The students were preparing to board the trains to go back to their summer homes. The train station was bustling with students, all with bags of luggage. Lily was with James, Peter, Sirius, and Remus. "You coming back next year?"

"Can't keep me away." Lily and James hugged each other, and she kissed him. It was a warm kiss, and he liked it.

"You can count on Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs." Remus said, smiling.

"B-bye." Peter said.

"Bye." James smiled. "I love you guys."

"Oh my god! The map! You-" Lily panicked for a bit, but James put his arm around her.

"I left it. We decided that we'll come back and get it next year, and eventually, some new prankster of the future will find it." James hugged Lily. Lily giggled.

"Well mischief managed, right?" Sirius said.

"Mischief managed." and the five friends walked into the train.


End file.
